Paradox, Part One
by DizzyTech
Summary: Events in time are more intertwined than you think. Just because Kevin 11 escapes, doesn't mean he has to destroy everything, right? Part One: Ben goes back to school, while Ben 10,000 is seeing some weird stuff in the future. No ending, ever. Sorry.
1. Wood Shavings and Similar Dust

**Paradox**

Chapter One: Wood Shavings and Similar Dust

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_**Well, Paradox is back! I've split the storyline of Pardox into two separate stories. They both occur at the same time, but are better organized. The stories will eventually have a be-all, end-all sequel ending the storyline. I hope these stories are less confusing. And, if you're reading both stories, you will notice that this chapter is shared between the two. This is the only chapter which will do so.**_

_**As an extra note, I was going to post more tonight, but I have to go to sleep.**_

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**_

The door shook almost angrily as it was trying to be opened. The door resisted heavily; its opener realized he should have replaced it back at the beginning of the summer.

Growling in futility, the aging man gave up and walked around the side of the house. He walked up his porch, pried open the swing door, and tried the back door.

The other door opened easy with the click and turn of the key. The door swung inward, and outward rushed a powerful odor of dust and a rush of heat. Trudging up the stairs, he walked into his lonely bedroom, changed his clothes, and flopped down on his king size bed and immediately fell asleep.

These actions were likely planned. As it was, the front door wasn't stuck shut by old age and swelling of the weather, as the old man thought, but rather by a sticky substance with similar properties to super glue and cement. If it had opened as normal, the man might have passed by the kitchen. He then could have possibly decided to hang up his keys. Without a doubt, he then would have passed by his phone, therein changing the majority of this story's outcome.

The small, sleek answering machine next to the phone blinked with a red light, signaling a message received during the long months the home's occupant was gone.

The phone rang. The ring was very low, almost silent, so not even a stealthy night prowler could hear it. After a few sets of rings, the answering machine picked up. A strong voice filled with a slight bit of boredom spoke.

"Hello. You have reached Maxwell Tennyson. I'm sorry, but I can't get to the phone right now. Please leave a message after the tone and I will get back to you as soon as possible."

Background noise rustled in the message for a few seconds, and then the voice switched to a woman's robotic one. "Please note that…" and, switching to the previous voice with a loud rustle, "…Maxwell Tennyson…", and, switching back again, "… has currently set a long-term away notice. Understand that your message may not be received for a while. Please consider reaching this person via another number."

All was stopped by a high pitched beep. Another voice came out this time.

"Max, please pick up. I know you're there. Stop being paranoid about spies and bugs, just listen. You need to bring in the Null Void Projector." It pronounced the name of the device slowly and surely, so as to not make a mistake. The voice turned desperate. "We've been detecting space anomalies all across the board, and I think our fr… somebody… might starting to notice. Call me back, now. Max. Call me. Don't make me call again."

As an after note, the robotic voice appended to the end of the message: "Twenty-three unheard messages. First unheard message sent… two weeks, one day ago… at 8:12 PM…"

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The sunlight pressed into the clean, shiny window as if it had a special purpose. An annoying grinding bounced off of the walls and a clatter of wood against wood added to the din. Looks of pure melancholy echoed across some of the children's faces. The whining of a liquid crystal projector blended with the occasional default mail arrival sound of an all-too expensive computer system, breaking into the bright orange screen with a dialog box. "Welcome," the beam of light played onto a screen. It all seemed so warm and fuzzy. Classical music played lightly in the background.

The children were all subdued, not really upset, just bored. Except for one of them. He hated all of it. He hated school. He wanted his summer back. If he had a fighting chance, he would have battled his way off of the sun-yellow transport vehicle earlier that morning. However, it was all hopeless. He had pushed on, reacquainting himself with some familiar faces and greeting them with a joyful smirk.

His friends hardly recognized him as he sauntered through the murderously white hallways. The boy had grown an inch or two, adding some muscle along the way. This surprised his comrades the most, thinking back. Their friend was never really sporty person – energetic and athletic, certainly, but he wasn't like the bulk of boys in the school – dreaming fantastically that their future will be a sporting dream, ignoring all chances of any other possibilities – you know the type – he was more of a skateboarding, biking type. More of the recreational sporting type, he was – not a baby jock. Enough of that, though...

The boy also seemed to be more confident, even though it was masked by his absolute hatred of the school. What few of them noticed, though, was the most significant change. It sat on the boy's left wrist, black and green in color. In shape and size, it looked no different than a generic sport-brand digital watch available from the crappy jewelry section of your multi-purpose mega store. But it was more than that. Oh, god... much, much more.

Ben Tennyson thought, for the millionth time, of his ride back home the week before. It began replaying in his head like a tape recording, as he twiddled a faded orange pencil between his thumb and forefinger, balancing the back two legs of the chair as he pushed himself up on it with his right hand. This had all just started when a deep voice echoed around the room. At the front of the large class was a man, who Ben assumed was his teacher. He had a broad build, and stood tall. The man wore an old, faded jacket that seemed to still gleam with newness. His hair was graying and his work thick glasses. The man's voice was energetic and smooth. "As the projector says, I would like to welcome you all to the fifth grade. Now, just to start, I want to go around the room, and begin, with your name and what you did this summer!"

The first person forced to answer was a girl, who quickly and quietly stood up, whispered her answer mouse-like, and sat down. The teacher droned, "Brilliant!" and moved on.

"…This is going to be a long year…" Ben thought while moaning quietly so nobody could hear it.

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The interior of the building was beautifully chrome. Lights reflected on the walls every other foot. The shape of the room was generally that of a light bulb; round and even, with a rectangular box towards the front. This place, once referred to enthusiastically as a 'headquarters,' was bathed in colorless, shining light.

The slight hiss of a hydraulic door sounded, complemented by the heavy thump of a boot.

The tall man's broad shoulders and heavyset form continued to walk around the exterior of the room. At one point he suddenly stopped, almost tripping, in front of a steaming cup of coffee floating an inch in front of his face. It floated in front of and passed him. This startling appearance caused him to turn to his right, toward the direction of the hovering beverage.

Raising an eyebrow expectantly and rubbing his bearded chin, the man looked onward, and then spoke.

"What are you doing here?"

A face, softly etched with well-shaped features, turned up towards him, a surprised look spread across it.

The man's bearded face scrunched up in a confused look and urged the woman to continue with his eyes.

Her eyes, a deep green, were half-closed depressingly. She began to speak, half groaning.

"We've got a problem."

The man's eyebrows rose apprehensively. He grabbed something minuscule from his right pocket, tapped a button on it, and spoke clearly. "Hey, Cooper, we still got problems down in Australia?"

A voice crackled back. "Naw, man. You need to do something?"

"Yeah. I'm worried about something."

He walked over to the side of the large computer terminal and gripped the corner of it with two hands. "What's up?"

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The large behemoth sat on the floor, staring at the wall of the padded room. He was thinking. He had to do this; he had to get it right. He needed to get out. He ran over the plan once more in his mind. If everything went right, he'd be safe. At least, he hoped.

A door in the wall, which has pretty much not been there a minute ago, hissed open. A man in blue walked in carrying a tray of food.

He was going to do this, he had been waiting for months.

As the man put down the food in front of him, he started to turn and walk away. He would suspect nothing; the monster was immobilized. At least, he was disabled from using his powers. In theory.

Kevin suddenly grinned. He squeezed his hands to his fist and unleashed a blue stream of energy. It crackled and exploded, fizzled and zapped. The man had no chance against the wrath of stored static electricity. Cuff links strapped to the monster shot across the room and rocketed around the walls once or twice before landing on the floor with a clank.

And with that, he was free. But he had one thing to do first. His eyes blinked sideways and a greasy sprig of hair hang down in his face as he put the hand on the man's back. Kevin needed something from the man. This time, an orange glow shot into the man's body, pulling back into the beast. Yellow light spread through the cracks and fissures on his arm that looked like rock; a green glow emitted from his torso.

Moments later he was finished. That was all he needed; just the basics. He closed his fists once more, but touched nothing. This time, a red spark appeared at his tiptoes - pardon me, claws. It slowly moved up the behemoth's ankles, transforming as they went. Instead of thick, hardened slabs appeared naked human feet. His legs turned back from tree trunks to pencils, replacing the same shorts that had graced that human body months ago. The striped black and blue tail disappeared, and his chest shrunk down to size.

A human being - black hair and all - stepped over the carcass and out the door. He closed the door, which sealed automatically. _Time to have some fun._ He turned to the right and located a red button protruding from the wall. Kevin smashed it with his fist, and red panels of light turned on above.

_Now, the real escape._

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Ben fiddled with the pencil between his fingers as he half-listened to his new teacher. "Okay, now, class! Right about now, we'll be going to lunch, so just put down your pencils and slowly walk out of the…"

Ben was already gone, barely hearing the incredulous cries of, "Mr. Tennyson?!"

He sat down for lunch minutes later, joyously talking to his friends. He actively participated in the conversation. Soon enough, the speaking time pointed to him. "So, dude, what did you do this summer?"

"Oh, well, I went on a cross-country trip…"

His friends laughed in response. "What, with your grandpa?"

Ben grinned sheepishly, "Well, yeah..."

"... and that freakazoid cousin of yours?" The ten-year-old laughed in response. His friends generally accepted that and continued on.

A friend named Alex asked, "So, Ben, did you get that new Sumo Slammers game?"

The boy he addressed grinned mischievously, reflecting upon how he got the aforementioned video game. "Of course! What else would…?"

He was interrupted again by a loud crash coming into their hearing range. The smell of smoke drifted into the air. The cafeteria fell instantly into silence. A television in the corner of the room flashed red, with the word ALERT drawn out across the screen. A monotone alarm rang on and off repeatedly.

"Children, out through here! Now!" A teacher had ran to the door leading outside and opened it. Teachers began rushing students out. Screams echoed through the air. Everybody ran immediately out except Ben, who recognized the clatter without knowing it. One of his friends noticed, and shouted, "Ben, come on, what are you waiting for?!" "Just wait a second, go ahead!" he responded.

"Benjamin Tennyson, get through this door **NOW**!" His stunned teacher began shouting.

His friend shouted, "Dude, come on, get out!"

Ben pouted and pointed a finger back at the two men. He cocked his head towards the chrome double-doors to signal his listening to the noises. A grim cackling sounded from the direction of the upper-level hallway. The fire alarm continued to ring with a dull, repeating twitter from the public announcement system.

"I know who it is!" he shouted, and began to run down the hall. The men behind him began to move out the door, but galloped after Ben instead.

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_10 Minutes Earlier_

Gwen frowned uneasily as she passed the manila folder across the marble desk to the wrinkled woman confusedly fiddling with a workstation. The snorted in anger as she probably did something wrong. The young girl smirked, making the old secretary looked up. "Excuse me, miss?" The woman began to cough. "Oh… um… just commenting on these _great_ new computers…okay then…err…click here…okay, Gwendolyn, you're in all of your classes now."

She smiled happily and said, "Thanks, Mrs. Appletree!"

As she turned around, the elderly woman rolled her eyes boredly and spat, "Have a nice year, now."

A loud explosion was heard as the child began to walk out of the carpeted office. Smoke floated into view from the hallway in front of her as she saw a flash of red and orange. Gwen dropped the bright blue messenger bag in her hand onto the floor and dashed out onto the glossy tiling.

She hardly listened as a dry voice shouted behind her, "Mrs. Tennyson! Mrs. Tennyson! Gwendolyn!"

A scared look was wiped upon her face as children flooded into the halls behind her.

That's when she met up with Ben at the epicenter of the school.

"What are you doing here?"

She couldn't help but smile at that. "Don't worry about that. What's going on?"

A rumbling sound slowly approached as the cinder-block wall in front of them outwardly exploded. The dust cleared and revealed their worst enemy.

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"No… no way! That couldn't happen!" His brow was deeply furrowed as he rubbed his hands together nervously.

He continued to stare uneasily at the screen as the woman next to him frowned sadly, and returned her look to the screen.

"It will. Do you need me to show it to you again?"

The man closed his eyes out of pain. "No… I couldn't possibly take that for much longer." He paused for a moment and sighed, reopening his eyes. "Could this… really happen?"

The woman's orange hair danced in her eyes as she responded. "Yes… and someone's doing it as we speak."

The man's voice grew suddenly deeper and more serious, regaining the tone somewhat recently lost. "There are six of them mainline… do we have any allies in any of them?"

His partner responded without hesitation. "In half of them. Quite a few in those, in fact. And you'll never believe who it is…" And with that, she waved her finger, and a picture floated onto the glowing screen.

The man suddenly lost his solid look and grinned, almost laughing. "You're kidding, right?"

After looking at him for a second, the woman sweetly replied, "Would you like to see you instead?"

"No… I don't think I do…"

Ignoring his response, the woman confusedly glanced at the man across from her for a moment, and then spoke oddly.

"Wait a sec… Ben, have you always had black hair?"

Forming the start of an incredulous "What?!" in his mouth, the man ran a hand through the hair on his head, and rubbed his shaved chin. As he looked back at her, his eyes widened in realization. The form of his moth changed to form one simple word:

"No!"


	2. Upgrading

**Paradox Part One**

Chapter Two: Upgrading

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"Come on, Jackson, I think they went this way…"

The two males walked through the spreading dirt and dust.

They began to listen, as all of their other senses were blocked.

"It's you!"

"You!"

"You!"

One of them shouted, "Who's saying you?"

"I thought you were in another dimension!"

"Promises, promises, right?" a deep voice growled.

The dust slowly started to fade.

"Let's just take care of this now," a sarcastic, young voice spat.

The teacher and student looked suspiciously at each other. The scene that appeared as the walked through the dust confused the two.

A rough triangle split the three groups in the hallway.

At one point, Ben stood with a grim frown on his face and his left hand resting on his right wrist. Gwen stood next to him, crouching in a fighting stance.

The two confused normal people (the best way to put it, I guess) obviously stood at another.

And, at the top was the most confusing of them all: a pale boy growling at the two. He stood strong with his arms held out to his sides. A blue ring of what looked like electricity floated around his thumb and forefingers. To the teacher, he looked as if he should be in about the seventh, maybe eighth, grade, and appeared, aw, I'll say it... "emo", complete with ripped shirt and pants, with stringy black hair. A demonic grin spread across his face.

"How do you think you'll beat me, squirt?"

Ben shouted, "Like this!" Gwen twisted her head over to the direction of two onlookers, shouting, "Wait, Ben, no!"

He hardly noticed her as he slapped the green face on what the two intruders thought was his wristwatch.

A green haze filled the hall. Ben's skin immediately began to burn painfully. The caustic pain slid down his throat, and his body felt solid and rocky; his whole body felt aflame.

Two noises had commenced at once: one like that of a heavily-sprung trampoline, and another, like a surge of electricity. Immediately, the haze cleared to reveal two completely different figures than before: one, in Ben's place, was a tall, anthropomorphic person that seemed to radiate heat. The other new person was much larger. In fact, a was a large, periwinkle man. A quick glance around the room would reveal that the fluorescent bulbs reflected as if the latter monster was a prism.

The two humans, surprised to find that they were huddled against the wall, were in a shocked trance.

However, any peace lasted less than three seconds as a fight broke loose.

"You... can't… beat… me…twerp!"

Shouts came out between throwing punches and blasting whatever odd element they came equipped with at each other.

"Oh… yes… I… can!" A stream of sapphire rock burst across the tiled intersection, now thickly coated with crushed mortar and dust.

Fire flew across the previously mentioned gap. "I'd… like… to… see… you… try!"

A flash filled the room and a heavy buzzing, like a large bee or fly, entered as well. Some poisonous acid shot out as well as his opponent tried to shield his head.

"New… juice… I've… been…working…up… how… do… you…like it?"

"Not…wheeze…much!" Ben threw a punch or two in between gasps for breath. "How… did… you… get… back… to… yourself… again?" The deep voice of the creature echoed off the painted cinder blocks of the wall.

A squeaky, slightly annoying voice of the insect replied. "Who knows? Maybe somebody thought I had had enough time…" The voice stopped momentarily as another sound of surging electricity released into the air. A deeper, stronger voice spoke up again; however, it was oddly distant and echoed. "…in…hell, Tennyson. Who cares? I'm here now, aren't I? Powers and all, thanks to you!"

Ben noticed that the attacks stopped and slowly pulled down the arms of rock too his sides. "Jeez, when will you get over that!?"

A plate on the creature's torso flashed a crimson red.

"Heh heh… right now, in fact!"

"_Oh…no!"_

Meanwhile, Gwen had rushed off towards the deer-in-headlights men near an oak trophy case when the fight began. Their jaws were practically on the waxed, off-white floor, and one's chin quivered oddly.

"Um…er…um…wh…wh…wha…wha-t…i-i-i-is…th-th-th…that?" The teacher, pale-faced, stuttered, slowly raising his finger into the direction of the fracas.

Gwen, gaping and scared as well, spoke, "A guy… with a grudge… against my…" She paused for a second. There was no use trying to hide it now. "…my cousin."

The child next to them, previously uninvolved in the conversation, bewilderedly looked at the red-headed preteen. "Gwen, what did you guys do this summer?"

"Ben got a new watch?" She responded cautiously.

"_Heh_ _heh… right now, in fact!"_

Before the exchange of words could continue much further, she shouted a purely simple phrase as she realized what was going on.

Among a reddish-orange haze that filled the room could be heard, nearly floating, that straightforward remark.

"_Oh… no!"_

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_

The tingling began in his arm, like some kind of vibration tingling its way up his form. He hadn't realized he had fallen to the floor, as the pain of his head hitting the tile was ignored by the charge hitting his mind at that exact moment. His arms jerked as well as his legs.

He then stopped altogether.

And that's when Ben Tennyson began to hear the voice.

"Good to see you again, buddy! Got a nice body, here!"

Ben groaned, and began to scream inside his head. "Kevin, I'm not in the mood to share my mind today."

"Because you've done it before, squirt?"

"No..."

Electric shots went back and forth across his mind, shooting faster and faster until… it all…just stopped. 

Two thin arms shook the boy awake. Groaning, his eyes slowly opened as he shook his head in his hand.

"Uhn… whaddaya want? I don't want to go to school yet!"

Another pair of arms shook the boy as well. "Ben, wake up!"

"Yeah, man, wake up!"

"Mr. Tennyson, wake up!"

Slowly, the boy moved to push himself up onto his elbows, looking weakly at the three figures above him.

"Ben…erm, was…that… you?" The boy replied, and odd look on his face.

He began to smile and his eyes gleamed in an odd way. "Kinda'."

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_

"So, how do you think he escaped?"

Ben blinked repeatedly, as if going over the answer in his mind.

"No idea. Something that random had to be planned." Gwen stared at him, as if to say, "Huh?"

The two were interrupted by two people walking up.

The first voice was of a young boy, confusedly stuttering, "So, that was, you, Ben?"

After a moment of silence, the teacher asked, "Mr. Tennyson, was it?"

Ben grinned sheepishly. A glint shone in his eye. "You could say that."


	3. Switching, I Think

**Paradox Part One**

Chapter Three: Switching, I Think...

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"_Heh heh… right now, in fact!"_

As the bulky form of Ben Tennyson disappeared into his human self, he suddenly had a spurt of courage. "Why don't we solve this man to man? Or are you just chicken?"

The circle on what seemed to be Kevin's forehead glowed red as it depressed with a 'V' into an evil-looking shape.

His echoing voice continued. "You really know why I haven't caught up with you like a normal person, Tennyson?"

A green haze floated through the room just as the red one began to clear. An oddly familiar voice picked up to line. "Because you've screwed my body up beyond fixing!"

Ben glared confusedly at his opponent, who seemed to look exactly like him, aged upon approximately one year. His eyebrow raised cockily, thinking that beating himself wouldn't be too hard.

"That's right, get cocky! You'll regret it! I'm you, in more ways than one, and I will win."

He dug in his pocket for a second and pulled out a small purple device in the shape of a serif-print letter Y. A reddish beam glowed at the end.

"I'll show you just how much someone's DNA can be screwed up in one day."

As an afterthought, he laughed, adding, "And it's only your first day of school, right?"

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His shoulders were tensed through stress and he watched in fear at the figure above him. He was being clutched to the cold, dusty floor by a strong hand pushing down on his ribs.

This situation can be described often; however, an extremely weird condition was changing the whole outlook: it was himself holding him down; or, at least, a person with his mirror image.

He menacingly held some kind of red-plated invention. A blue stream of electric energy extended from one edge to the other, and he held the device right above the boy's arm.

Grinning devilishly, he stabbed the device into his mirror's arm as the dust around them started to clear.

Ben felt ever so slight pain as the stream of light merged into his upper arm. He grimaced as a licking feeling of warmth spread across his arm and, seconds later, across his body. He closed his eyes out of discomfort, and refused to do anything else until the sensation ended.

He then opened his eyes. The dust had cleared in the half a minute he was tensed in pain. He stared up at Kevin, still looking exactly like him, who grit his teeth and whispered, "Talk to you later, buddy."

He than quickly distorted his face into a look of excitement and shouted over to the hallway's start. "Guys, come over, I got him!"

Ben thought, "Got who?" He saw his teacher, friend, and cousin come into view. Kevin continued to hold him down. His teacher asked hesitantly, "Who is he?"

"He's this deranged sociopath who has a grudge against Ben!" Gwen said.

Ben shouted suddenly, "Me?! I'm Ben, he's Kevin!"

He stopped surprisedly as he heard his voice, and immediately understood what was happening.

Kevin grinned smugly and coughed. "Yeah, right! Just look at yourself!"

Just as he was planning a rebuttal, the doors near them were busted down and black-suited men flowed in.

Kevin stood up, as did the kneeling rest of the group.

"Take him, boys."

The last thing Ben Tennyson saw was his own figure waving goodbye as a mask covered his face.

He was picked up and walked for a few minutes, but then was let down and dragged. The black bag wrapped tightly around his form. He could hardly breathe, but he had other things on his mind.

His backside began to sting; the bottom of the bag had begun to wear through. The boy suddenly thought he had hope, but than was let down just as immediately realizing they would notice him turning around.

Suddenly, as he was mulling over his decisions, he was picked up and tossed into what he assumed was a car. His back and head began to throb painfully as he hit the cold metal floor of the transport.

A voice, that he immediately recognized from his summer, spoke. It was deep and sounded perpetually angry. "See you later, sport." The sound of turning gears signaled that he closed the door, closing out any light at all.

"Of course," he said to himself, "Why do _I_ end up with the psychopath guy?"


	4. Inner Battlefield

**Paradox Part One**

Chapter Four: Inner Battlefield

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The boy was swept up into an embrace like never before as his parents approached him. It was two hours later, and Ben Tennyson was still standing in the same hallway of the battle earlier. Of course, he had been doing different things, but the location lay in the exact state of disarray as before. With a bewildered look on his face, Ben immediately replied to his parent's request of his health and safety.

However, the relative peace inside the ripped apart school, a much different scene was going on elsewhere. Well, it was technically at the same location, just physically smaller and figuratively deeper. This place that I am talking about is Ben Tennyson's mind, of which had become a mental battlefield between two mortal enemies.

"Where are we?" The voice echoed brilliantly, like some kind of grand music hall. It was a bizarre feeling Ben Tennyson felt, one of quite a few the average human does not feel often. The location they were in was generally circular. The place was dim, but some sort of unseen lighting reflected throughout, making the skin of the two people almost glow sickly. The general color scheme of the room was lime green. This instilled a further sense of confusion in Ben.

"You seriously have no idea where we are, dipstick?" A voice filled with anger echoed back across the room.

Ben glanced further at the walls, and seemed distracted, lost even. The green appeared to apparently be some kind of technology. It had the texture of labs you see in movies and television shows.

"Answer me, stupid!"

Ben suddenly came back to life, and stared across the room at his adversary. His fists remained clenched, as he realized they had been for the past few minutes. "Huh?"

The person across the space stared confusedly at Ben, with a glare filled with hatred. His opponent shut his eyes out of frustration, and rubbed his temples. "I said, genius, 'You don't know where we are, do you?'!" Ben slowly began to bend at the knees in a fighting stance in reaction to the slow speaking of his former friend.

"I'm not a retard... I just... have a headache."

His opponent rolled his eyes. "No kidding."

Ben repeated himself. "Huh?"

The still-unnamed enemy turned away for a second, contemplating how to approach his answer. Ben took the chance, with a running start, and attacked his enemy. The target quickly noticed the danger and sidestepped Ben, leaping out of his way. He landed in a cat-like stance with his hand touching the floor.

"Be careful, buddy," the boy smirked, "I could do some real damage." The character lay his hand flat on the floor, and a blue spark of electricity jumped out. Ben's head immediately began to swim, and he spun dizzily onto the floor.

As Ben regained focus, his opponent walked up to him and laid his boot right above Ben's ribcage, pressing down lightly.

The boy smirked. "Do you realize what's going on at all? Look around."

Letting him glance around until Ben answered with a meek moan, he leaned down until his face was an inch from Ben's. His hot breath poured across Ben's face. "We're in your mind, sport."

After thinking about it for a moment, Ben groaned. "That's impossible."

The enemy snorted. "Really?" He stood back up. "Look at that thing you call a watch on your arm." Ben turned his head sleepily and looked at his arm. He didn't realize it, but his energy was being slowly sapped. "This is the kind of infection it gives you." Leaning over and flicking the Omnitrix playfully, he spat, "You're stuck like this for a _long_ time."

Ben cocked his head slowly, but his adversary took no notice. "Now, Kevin 11's got some work to do. See you later, buddy."

He reared his fist backwards and rammed it into the side of Ben's face, who immediately blacked out.

Ben had trouble focusing as he woke up. He had a splitting headache, and he knew something was wrong. He didn't want to open his eyes. If he followed his inclination, he would have sat there in a stupor all day and night, however, he willed himself to awaken.

As his vision came into focus, he saw a young man kneeling above him. The hovering boy was grinning malevolently. His arms were crossed, and his eyebrows were slanted down. A small bit of stray hair hung in his face.

Before Ben even had a chance to groan, Kevin began to talk. "Man, buddy, you're more fragile than I thought. You must've been out for hours." A happy tone invaded his voice, while a slight twang of sarcasm hung on the end of each word.

Ben turned his head to the side swiftly as his opponent's rank breath entered his nose. He hardly resisted making a comment about toothpaste, and instead asked, "What are you doing with my mind!?"

Kevin just beamed even more, noticing Ben's discomfort and breathing heavily in his face. "Oh, just a little tweaking here and there." He stood up a little, and spat, "You wouldn't even notice."

Ben began to sit up, but realized he was bound by metal to the floor. He struggled. "Let me up!!"

Kevin wanted to scream out something about being in his own mind, but he smugly grinned and walked away. He was just too stupid to figure it out.


	5. Clichés and Such

**Paradox Part One**

Chapter Five: Clichés and Such

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There are many days you just expect to be tossed around by larger forces. Ben Tennyson did not expect the first day of school to be one of these, nor did he expect the larger forces to be a government agency, or doing all of the above as his worst enemy. However, Ben knew life must go on. Well, not _right_ now, he thought. He was stuck in a cliché, I mean, in a burlap sack.

He heard the vehicle stop, and two doors slam. The thump of a combat boot was accompanied by the squeak of a handle being turned on the door somewhere to his left.

A man, young-sounding, began to speak angrily (more growl) as another began to pull him out of the sack. "Kevin Jamison, you are hereby under arrest by the Federal Bureau of Investigation under nine counts of grand larceny, twelve counts of assault, two counts of assault with intent to kill, and one count murder."

Ben gasped quietly._ There's no way Kevin could have done this much, right?_

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you."

As the bag was pulled of his head, Ben was roughly knocked to the metallic floor of the vehicle as a set of handcuffs was tightly attached to his wrists.

As he was picked up like a feather and tossed to the ground, soon to be pulled up and forced to walk, Ben Tennyson could not help but think: "This just isn't my day."

He had no idea.

It was a dark room, and he was handcuffed to a chair. The only light in the room was embedded in the ceiling. An unmovable vent also was next to the light. There was no table in the room, and Ben Tennyson knew there was a door hidden in the wall to his front, due to how he got in the room.

Of course, another cliché.

Ben scanned the room for anything. No metallic surfaces, no electric plugs. _Nothing I can use Kevin's powers on._

The thought struck him suddenly, even though he had been thinking of it all along. _Would that work?_

Ben tried to work it out. Kevin mentioned something about DNA. Words and pictures flowed through his mind from the year before in school. Genetics... "the basic makeup of all living creatures."

For the record, no, Ben Tennyson hadn't memorized that tidbit of information. First of all, he had copied part of a longer, more complicated definition from another student's test when what he studied failed him. As well, that exact phrase came to him the moment he though of DNA... as if some external entity was feeding him answers.

The single light in the room dimmed. A ringing vibration entered Ben's ears. He rubbed his ears to try and alleviate the pain in his head.

While the rubbing did not help (in fact, it made it worse), the ringing faded quickly. However, he ended up hearing something totally different. He noticed clearly that it was a sound in his mind, not heard in his ears. It was, like, a crackling. It was very similar to static on a broken television.

That sound cleared as well, but then a voice began speaking.

"You've done a lot, you little monster."

_I think I know that voice!_

"Of course you do! We've met up many a time before, you filthy scum."

He began rattling off a list of places Ben recognized: "San Francisco, Seattle, Atlanta, Houston..."

_All places that..._

"... you destroyed one way or another this summer. And we finally have you, mutant."

Though it seemed pointless because this guy appeared to read his thoughts, Ben spoke anyway. "Listen, man, I'm not who you really think I am. I may look a heck of a lot like him, but Kevin is framing me! Just like he did all those times!"

The man cackled. "Bull... crap, kid! We know exactly who you are, and you tried this same shit back in New York."

"No, I'm serious! I'm Benjamin Tennyson, I go to Madison Elementary School, I started the fifth grade yesterday. This freak that's been following me around all summer destroyed my school and then did this freaky thing with transforming and..."

The tough-sounding man angrily interrupted the boy. "...Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure, kid... I'll play along. So why was Kevin... who _you_are... following you!"

Ben was frustrated and upset. He spat out the answer before he could thing. "He's trying to kill me and get the..."

Then another thought hit him. _Do I still have the..._

Ben frantically looked down at his right arm. His eyes grew wide, and he sharply took in a breath.

_... the Omnitrix is gone!_

The man seemed to wake up a little at that. "...Omnitrix!" He also seemed to take notice at Ben's previous answer. "Tennyson?"

The hidden door to the room burst open. A rush of cooler air hit Ben Tennyson, at least, as much as he could be considered Ben Tennyson.

A crew-cut, bulky man walked in. Swelling in his cheek and the black ring around his eye had faded since Ben had last seen him, but he was still the same man.

He wore a grim, serious look as he looked down at Ben. The boy uneasily smiled and awkwardly blew a greasy strand of hair out of his eye.

"You better be serious about what you're saying, boy."

Ben grimaced. Just as cold as he had last met him as well. "I am. I swear."

"Prove it."

Ben sighed. "I can't."

A hint of a smile twisted the military glare. "I guess we'll have to manage that ourselves."

He pulled a walkie-talkie out of seemingly nowhere, and spoke into it. "Man, take our little friend in Containment to Testing Room 42. I will meet you there."

A deep voice responded. "Affirmative, Lieutenant."

The man looked back at Ben. "Like I said, you'd better hope you're telling the truth, or else you might be in for some pain."

He turned to march out of the room, but then decided better. He turned around, and pushed Ben backwards. He then spun on his left heel and walking out of the room again, sealing Ben, helpless like a turtle, in this stuffy room.

-----------------------------------

Another dark room, another chair. This time, there was more, though: Ben could visibly see a one-way mirror in the wall, and a man stood next to him, monitoring a machine on a table. Ben had seen this in movies before. Lie detector.

The door, not hidden as well, opened again and admitted Ben's captor.

"Alright, scum, you're about to take a lie detector test, as you probably guessed. This isn't polygraph, this is something new, that only we've got. As you can see, we've strapped you down again, only as a precaution. If you are lying to us, you will not be able to use your power on our machine, however subtly."

"Anyway, on to the rules. This machine administers mostly accurate results of your trustworthiness. If your answers are determined to be lies, we will administer a small shock, like so..."

Anything but a small shock zapped Ben at that moment. He screamed in pain.

"Right, then. In addition, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent, however, since we are out of jurisdiction of the everyday legal system, we decide what happens."

"But what if I'm telling the truth?"

The man coldly looked at him. "We'll burn that bridge when we get to it."


	6. Creepily Similar

**Paradox Part One**

_Chapter Six:_ Creepily Similar

-----------------------------------

Ben groaned, and stretched. Struggling against the cold metal bounding him to the floor, Ben didn't know what to do.

_How am I going to beat this guy?_

A voice echoed from an unseen corner, "You won't."

Ben mentally retaliated. "_What the… how did that…"_

"… happen?" The voice continued to speak, clearly happy. "Again, your mind, your thoughts. Two people. One body."

Kevin walked into Ben's limited view once more. "You're a little bit thick, aren't you?"

He grinned a toothy smile of mal-intent. Ben glared daggers at his antagonist. _I so want to kill…_

"… me? Please! You couldn't kill me with a gun at point-blank. Or a guillotine with a rope long enough to reach," and, estimating a few metric's on Ben's body, "your small height."

Ben was ever-so-slightly confused. Kevin was definitely smarter since they last met. _He's got better vocabulary._

"Check." _Graahh! He's got better ideas, too._

"Check." _Stop that! Get out of my head!_

"Nope." Kevin continued to grin. "Ain't gonna happen, buddy."

With that, he thumped Ben's chest with his disgusting, slime-covered boot yet again.

"And it isn't going to happen any time soon."

He pushed down harder on Ben's form. The mental form of the ten-year-old felt a flash of pain that instantly faded away. The view of the room slipped away as well. He felt a sensation of falling, as if the floor was giving away.

He shut his eyes and tensed his shoulders, expecting a thin wisp of wind and then the hard knock of a floor. Unfortunately, his predictions were right, and he kit the cold, tiled floor extremely hard. Hard enough, it was, to kill a person from a slightly higher dropping height.

With that, he once again realized he was imaginary. At least, he was not in control of his actual body, but a representation of it. (Of course, it was not in that exact wording. It was more like, "Ow! Oh, wait, I'm not real. Cool.")

He readjusted his vision to the bright, fluorescent-quality light. Was he back at school? It appeared almost exactly the same. There was a brick wall, with an off-white blue hue. Cardboard-style tiles hung on the ceiling, dotted by lights. He looked around. Desks, chairs, computers were spread across the room. Almost like a control center, similar to the one he visited at NASA.

He turned back towards the ceiling and cradled the back of his head with his hands. Momentarily being thoughtful, he wondered what was going to become of him. Suddenly, before his actual thoughts could resume, the ceiling turned watery. Well, kind of… a ripple floated across the tiles. Slowly, as the ripples extended to the outer extremities of the room, a pair of combat boots appeared. They were followed by a pair of legs and hips, a torso, two arms, and a head. The person dropped to the floor effortlessly. Needless to say, it was Kevin, reminding Ben that he had a dirty, smelly footprint on his (imaginary?) shirt.

Ben was stunned, as Kevin's look had changed. His hair was cropped shorter than it was minute before, but still maintained a messy pattern. It looked, as a matter of fact, a little more like Ben's. For that matter, his eyes shone with an acid green instead of chestnut. He still wore the same shirt, however, a familiar-looking pair of baggy cargo jeans hung from his hips.

Shocked, the ten-year old propped himself up on his arms. He gaped.

Kevin spoke, with a slightly higher voice. "Sorry, about that, dude!" Running his hands through his hair, he continued. "I just needed a little better atmosphere, man."

As Kevin turned around and walked off, Ben took the chance to stand up. He was slowly connecting the pieces together; Ben quickly worked out a plan. He turned sideways, and ran full speed towards Kevin, estimating that his shoulder would impact his enemy's right under the ribs. Somehow, though, his opponent knew the exact coming moves.

Ben ended up back on the floor, head in pain, a red handprint on his forehead. Kevin got him right between the eyes, ouch. Ben cupped his face with his hands, moaning. As the pain instantly faded, Ben Tennyson regained his bravery, leaping right back up to confront his enemy.

Making two fists to counter Kevin's, he stood in an attack pose. And that was when Ben shouted his upstanding questions: "What are you doing?! Why do you look like me?!"

With that, Kevin took down his fists, and replaced his serious look with a solid smile. His nostrils flared. With a voice nearly identical to Ben's, Kevin said, "Dude, I'd like to ask you the same questions…"

Kevin snapped his fingers, and a mirror appeared in front of Ben.

Staring at his own reflection, Ben Tennyson, of one reality, gasped uncertainly.

-----------------------------------

"Gwen, I'm serious, I'm fine! Just leave me alone."

"Sorry, Ben, you've just been acting a little weird since what happened earlier today."

Ben cackled. "Oh, please, this is only like, the eighth time an attempt has been made to kill me. What's new?"

He paused for a second, to think. "As a plus, that Kevin freak is safely locked up for now."

Gwen nodded. "Fine. I was just worried, y'know, you zonked out a little after they took Kevin away."

"It's just shock, or something. I mean, he tried to kill me."

"Whatever. I just won't care anymore, after all, being weird isn't new for a dweeb like you."

Ben rolled his eyes, and walked away, noticing his friends some ways away.

You see, the majority of the student body was out in the giant field behind the school. The administration decided to cancel school for the rest of the day while police inspected the 'crime scene'.

Kevin vaguely suspected much of the 'police' there were the same agents that had been chasing him for months, but he shook it off and continued toward his group of buddies.

However, before he could reach his destination, his teacher stopped him, jokingly holding his hands up and saying, "No running, Mr. Tennyson."

Ben stopped in his tracks. The teacher gestured in his direction and said, "Come walk with me, Ben."

Kevin obliged. "What you did today was very brave, Mr. Tennyson. Brave indeed."

Kevin nodded. _Alright, what is this guy trying to say? He thinks that twerp beat __**me **__down? Fat chance._ "Of course, sir."

"There was one thing I didn't understand, though. You disappeared while that boy, Kevin, they told me, was fighting some sort of monster. Did you have anything to do with that?"

Ben almost snorted, but thought better of it. He responded innocently, "No, of course not. Why?"

"Just asking."

_Whatever. You're trying to get information outta' me. Not gonna happen. I've got other plans. First thing is... _"Um, sure, Mr. S. I gotta go talk to some guys over there."

Kevin spun around and jogged away.

The teacher looked on. He seemed unsure, but brushed it off.


	7. Relieving Pressure

**Paradox Part One**

Chapter Seven: Relieving Pressure

---------------------------

So, what did you expect? I really want to know. I mean, I bet you want to know what's going on as much as Ben does.

Ben made faces to the mirror, just to make sure it was him he was seeing in the reflective glass. It most definitely was.

After observing himself for a few more moments, he looked around for his mind-sharing enemy (there is only one). Kevin had appeared directly behind him, so Ben accidentally knocked in to him.

Testing his voice uneasily, Ben shouted, "Hey, man, back off!"

Kevin backed away, holding up his hands in a gesture of mock defeat. I say 'mock,' because once he backed away a couple of inches, vines sprang out of his palms and wrapped around Ben. The ten-year-old, now looking like a forest green snake was coiled around him, ended up on a suddenly clear table.

Ben repeated his earlier question, struggling against the vines. "What...are...you...doing?!" Kevin continued to grin, and dusted off his hands. He finally responded, simply saying, "Stalling."

He added on, "Speaking of..." and trailed off as he went across the room. In the wall nearest Ben, a monitor appeared, similar in look to that of a flat-screen television.

It flickered to life, giving Ben his point of view again. At least, giving Ben his _real_ self's point of view. The real Ben Tennyson was lazily brushing his teeth. His dad peeked in the bathroom behind him, at least, that's what Ben saw through the mirror. Suddenly, imaginary Ben could hear what was going on in reality.

"Come on, sport, hurry up, you gotta get ready for that ever-so-exciting second day of school."

Real Ben snorted, and grunted in response, waving goodnight to his dad in the mirror.

Imaginary Ben was snapped back out of his second of feeling normal again.

"Aw, that's sweet. Touching too."

Ben turned, as much as he could, towards Kevin, glaring daggers. "What, I can't watch you... I mean, us... get ready to go sleepie-by? I've only been waiting for this all day."

Ben twisted up his face because of how bizarre that sounded.

Kevin rolled his eyes. "Still don't get it, do you?" He began talking simultaneously with his hands, making motions to demonstrate his words. "You're going, leaving, bye-bye. Outta here."

He decided to continue giving answers to the still-confused Ben. "All of this, the looks, the changing, switching, is just stuff to freak you out, distract you. Trust me, I could be doing much worse.

"I mean, you've already missed the whole afternoon. Half of everybody at school's treating you like a hero, the rest think you're a freak.

"Now, all I have to do is wait for you here to go night-night, and I can do whatever I want."

Before Ben could even think ask what that was, Kevin answered. "Oh, don't you worry, just packing away a few things into storage." As he said it, cardboard boxes appeared in the room.

"You see, it's putting a little bit of pressure on your little mind to have two of us in here." Gesturing around the room, he said, "I want to keep a lot of this stuff. But I want to stay here, too."

Ben finally put the pieces together. "You're getting rid of me, aren't you?"

"Not really. You're useful. After all, I only need your worthless body for a little while. The stupid watch gives me a little extra space, so I'm just going to put you there... until you're needed."

Ben didn't like the sound of that at all. Kevin was in total control.

Meanwhile, Ben in the real world had gotten into his bed and fallen asleep.

Imaginary Ben yawned. Kevin's eyes narrowed, making him look all the more evil. Kevin now spoke in Ben's exact voice. "See 'ya later, dude."

Ben screamed in futility. The table turned watery, and Ben fell, down, into the darkness.

---------------------------

Lunchtime, at least in schools, is considered the universal meeting time. Particularly in Ben's school, certain groups always stuck together, and that of Ben's friends is a perfect example.

They sat down at the same table each and every day and tried to choke down the cafeteria food while cracking jokes and making fun of each other.

Today was no exception, even though it was only the fourth day of school on a Thursday.

Kevin was getting along perfectly as Ben; no particular difference was noticed.

On this day, the group was cackling over a story told about one of their summer vacations involving a cat and a swimming pool.

And, with startling suddenness, the conversation stopped. One or two looked around confusedly, and the rest glared around, repulsed. One of the more sarcastic of the group shouted, "Alright, who cut the cheese?!"

The whole group busted in a moment of laughter, but looked around to find the culprit. Everybody instantly denied, which led everybody to look at Kevin, who was sipping on a carton of milk. "What?" He spat defensively. "It wasn't me!"

The group looked at him, oozing a look of, "Yeah, right." Every single one of them knew it wasn't them, so who was left? Ben... I mean, Kevin. He laughed. "What, are you kidding me?"

The same kid who shouted said, "No, man. We just have one thing to ask: What did you eat!?" Everybody laughed raucously as a group of girls walked by, looking even more repulsed when smelling the disgusting stench.

The friends exploded in laughter again, including Kevin. One buddy has chocolate milk running out of his nose as he guffawed, while another clapped Ben on the back. "Yeah, dude, check your pants!"

Kevin, taking a sip of milk again, choked as the group continued to joke. He continued with the denial as he got up to dump his tray.

As he put the tray on top of a stack, he walked into the boy's bathroom. He knew he hadn't crapped himself, at least, but the stench was still attacking his nostrils (and those of everybody who passed him).

He sniffed at his armpits, but no, he had applied deodorant that morning. He refused to do as one of his friends jokingly told him, as he was sure that wasn't it. Then, he was sure of what it was. He pulled the sneaker off his left foot and the same disgusting stench wafted, stronger than ever, out of his shoe.

_Man, that's potent!_

Sure that it would make his friends laugh even harder, he pulled on the show and walked out of the bathroom. He sneaked up behind his friends, and then pulled off and dropped both shoe and sock in the middle of the table, greeted by pretend gagging and shouts.

-----------------------------------

Kevin had lived a mainly uneventful day since he captured the genetic material of his nemesis. He had spent most of his day assuring people that he was all right and being called a hero. Nobody seemed to notice that he had aged a year.

As he lay down in Ben Tennyson's bed that night, he relayed his plans in his mind.

_Tomorrow,_ he thought, _it begins._


End file.
